BBC news with Nick Kelly.

President Obama and his rival Mitt Romney have cancelled events in their election campaign because of the mass killing at a cinema in the state of Colorado. Mr. Romney asked people to pray for the victims and their relatives. Mr. Obama said he was shocked and saddened by the shooting that killed 12 people injured 59 others during the screening of the latest Batman film in Aurora, Denver.

We are still gathering all the facts about what happened in Aurora. But what we do know is the police have one suspect in custody and the federal government stands ready to do whatever is necessary to bring whoever responsible for this heinous crime to justice.

A man called James Holmes was arrested near the scene carrying fire arms.

Syrian government forces are marching to retake control of parts of capital of Damascus and borders crossing seized by rebels. State television said forces loyal to President Assad have retaken the Midan district in central Damascus, an aired footage of burned and blooded bodies in the streets. Jim Muir is monitoring the events from Lebanon.

Matters on the first day of Ramadan, this man screamed looking at bodies strewn on the street as bullets flew around. This was in Hali Benwali Street in the very hot of Damascus. Although some parts of the city remained relatively quiet, there was no shortage of action in other areas. Fighting was also reported in the second city Allepo. That is a bad news for the regime. Damascus and Allepo are the two main pillars standing relatively unscathed through 16 months of uprising until last weekend.